The Crab Shack

Excellent meal. The calamari was excellent. The beer is a bit of a let down but the food made up the difference. Waiter’s and waitresses were superb.

Honestly, due to it’s waterfront-​ish location, I was expecting to leave this establishment worried about whether or not I could squeeze through my next credit card payment. Thankfully, this was not the case because my wife paid for it, but nonetheless, the prices were very reasonable. We ordered pots of mussels, which are served by the 500 grams (about a pound) in a sauce of your choosing. We went with one order of the white wine sauce and one of the chili and garlic (if you’re ordering mussels, they are really the only options one should go with), and good lord almighty it was phenomenal. The mussels were enormous — as they tend to be here — and that marvelous 100% pure New Zealand ocean taste left its delicate, yet pronounced mark on the palate just as it would if you had harvested and boiled them yourself whilst camping on a secluded stretch of Coromandel coastline. The Crab Shack has a simple, yet seemingly well-​selected wine selection consisting of predominantly Marlborough-​based drops. I went with a Mac’s Great White, however, as I get nervous whenever I try to pronounce ‘Sauvignon Blanc’ in public.

Love it! Great ambience; pretty good service. The chicken wings are to die for! Lovely view too. I’d definitely come back for another bucket of chicken wings.

I called for a reservation for August 29^th 2015 for 6 pm party of ten.
Web site states they take reservations of 10 or more.
I had ten guests and was informed that the reservations were full but if I came down with my party at 6 pm they would have a table for us.
I turned up at around 5.45pm and informed them that we are the party of ten at
and that they were holding a table for us, only to be informed that no table would be ready for at least an hour and a half.
It was cold and wet and no where for us to wait. We are visiting from Hawaii and were really upset at this treatment. Reflects poorly on guest services. Naturally I had to scramble to find another venue. They need to be more explicit with there communication and improve customer service.

Great place for lunch. Bit small and crowded but food was top notch. Not a great place for team lunches or kids.
Had the fish of the day which came with a great potato hash which was just nice and just a tad expensive. Overall it was casual dining and great service.

They were out of crab — so much for being a crab shack. We settled on the seafood paella. It was good, as was the service.

Delicious food and great customer service! Food arrived promptly and numerous staff members made sure my dining experience was great.

I thought this place, with all its recommendations and write ups, was just average. Ambiance wise, it is spot on with the cute crab pits hanging from the ceiling and turquoise blue colored walls. Very bright and relaxing especially if you sit by he windows.
For the food, The board entrees (aka appetizers for you Americans) look enticing, such as crab dip and hummus, salmon, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket like we did. They’re about $ 12 – 17 a piece. We ordered the shrimp Mac n cheese balls, and they were OK. $ 12 for 3 small pieces. We weren’t starving, so we decided to forego the crab (very messy and $ 45 just didn’t seem appealing) and instead went with the 500g mixed bucket of clams and mussels in white wine, garlic, and butter. We got about 8 good sized, fresh shellfish. Their shells must’ve been heavy. The broth was tasty, especially with the bread we ordered. Sides run $ 6 per, and we got bread and coleslaw.
If we were ravenous, this probably wouldn’t have been enough for two people. But this filled us up just right. I would probably order more boards next time.
I will say that crafty beggars pale ale is sure tasty, so cheers to the crab shack for carrying it on tap!
A-​OK, but certainly not a «must eat,» which is what fodors suggested.

The restaurant is very casual, located along the waterfront in a warehouse setting. I had the lamb with shredded hash browns and cole slaw. The lamb was very good, tasty and tender. The portions for the lamb were too small though. The slaw was very good too. I didn’t like the hash browns, as they were very, very greasy and a bit over browned.
The other party had the crab and clam fettuccine and it was very good. Service was good and timely. I might have gone for 4 stars if it weren’t for the greasy potatoes and small portion of lamb.

I visited this hugely popular Wellington eatery recently. And I was god smacked, not by the quality of the food they served. But the huge price difference between the Wellington restaurant and the newly opened Auckland one.
I ordered pretty much everything that I could consume in one sitting. At the end, it was almost 50 dollars cheaper than what I would have paid in Auckland’s the Crab Shack.
The paddle crab was supposed to be in chilli sauce, but the chilli flavour was almost muted. The hot wings on the other hand was spot on with the hotness. It wasn’t in your face spicy, but if you don’t like the tabasco kinda of flavour then please don’t order it. It can come across as a bit sour.
The scoops of Tua tuas, diamond shells were pretty good. The cream sauce worked best with them. But they all felt like was coated in the sauces and not cooked in them.
I also ordered the Jonas crab, which was a pot of 500grams of crab claws. Yes, it does taste frozen. As we don’t have those kind of crab in our waters around New Zealand. Nonetheless it was a good eating dish, albeit a bit messy. But they do provide you with those adult bibs to cover up most of the torso, just be mindful of the incoming crab particles from the others around the table.
The highlight of the meal had to be the bread platter. Yes, one of the cheapest things on the menu. The crab meat dip and the Indian flavour inspired dip was the best thing on that plate. I am not sure why they felt obligated to sprinkle large amount of parsley over the bread rolls. I mean come on guys, we no longer live in the 80’s.
Now, we have talked about the food. I am a huge fan of the modern industrial décor. The whole, we have spent money to renovate but you can’t tell that we have look works best with the family style dinning atmosphere. If you want class, then the connected shed 5 would probably be a better match. But if you would just like to relax and enjoy some nicely cooked seafood then the Crab Shack is not such a place to be.

I was looking for a good seafood restaurant for local fish. This is not that place. The crab is the reason to come to the Crab Shack. The soft shell is amazingly good and crispy. The regular crab was nice too. The other excellent dish is the local green lips mussels. Again, cooked well and had a nice sweet flavor. These dishes, and the friendly staff, are my reasons for the third star. Otherwise, it is a clear two stars.
The variety is limited. The calamari was very rubbery. Other items has too much sauce or breading. For example, the creole sauce on the daily special had little flavor. It was more like a bland tomato sauce. But, it over powered the fish flavor.
Overall, it is meh experience for the food.. But, the crab was good enough for a third star. And, the service is outstanding. The place had a nice, fun, informal vibe.

If you’re visiting (or living in) Wellington, my ‘must go’ recommendation is Crab Shack.
Recently upmarket restaurants have been reducing their opening hours (Logan Brown) or forced to close (The White House and Martin Bosley’s) as consumers vote with their feet in favour of casual dining. The result is some great, affordable places run by the same restaurateurs. A win for consumers in my mind.
Arriving 6.30pm on a Saturday night there was already (an acceptable) 30 minute wait for a table at Crab Shack. My party was directed right down the venue, through Shed 5 to the bar to wait, ordering cocktails while we waited, disappointed to find The Crab Shack drink specials were not available in the Shed 5 bar.
We were seated within the half-​hour timeframe, near the kitchen so could watch the meals being prepared. Between us we ordered 1L of White Sangria, Salmon and Calamari Rings as starters followed by the Cajun Catch of The Day (Groper, served with Potato Hash and Coleslaw), Paella, and Steak (also served with Potato Hash and Coleslaw).
The staff were dressed casually in t-​shirts featuring jokes about them having Crabs. They were all extremely friendly and only to happy to provide advice and suggestions.
I felt a little bad not ordering Crabs being the specialty but the food was amazing and it was very well priced totalling just over $ 40 per person.
Service ⁵⁄₅
Food 4.5÷5 — I’d have preferred my fish just a little more cooked)
Atmosphere ⁴⁄₅
Price 3.5÷5
Average Score ⁴⁄₅

Very good clam chowder!
Clam by the scoop are a must and the spicy white wine sauce are to die for!
Ordered a catch of a day which is grilled to perfection. Fishare juicy and flaky! The potato hash is very crisp and moist and full of flavour!

A great place for lunch. The menu is extensive and has a great mix of seafood and meat dishes. Had the lamb and saw a number of the other dishes.
Would suggest any of the starters, though be warned they are huge and are a meal themselves. Even when you are sharing.
They have some great local brews on tap and also some solid performing wines by the glass.

A modest 30 minute wait sadly lead to a poor showing on the main course. Dishes were poorly seasoned and frankly worst dish we’ve had since coming to NZ. Wouldn’t recommend but service was friendly and prompt.

We four friends had a delicious late 2.30pm lunch recently at the Crab Shack using the Grab On One $ 15 for $ 30 value Vouchers.
Everything was «spot on». All the food was «great and tasty», the service was «great» and it was a beautiful day! We had a nice sunny spot sitting by the window.
What we ordered were:
(1)Clam chowder in a jar at $ 10.00.
(2)Crab & clam fettuccini — white wine, garlic, chilli, roasted peppers & parsley at $ 22.00.
(3)The Shack Stack — two rosemary & garlic sirloin steaks, layered w roasted field mushrooms & caramelised onions served with gorgonzola cheese sauce, potato hash & chipotle slaw at $ 28.00.
(4)A pot of Earl Grey Tea at $ 3.00.
All this for a total cost of only $ 33.00. We couldn’t had asked for more. Can’t wait to try this fabulous place again!

I came upon Crab Shack thinking it would be an upscale place. It really is not. That’s neither a good thing nor a bad thing, just a misunderstanding on my part. It’s a very casual, laid back place with decent prices. Not quite what I was looking for (I wanted something kind of fancy that night), but it worked.
I was seated immediately and my waiter was amazing. He was just truly fantastic. I was very indecisive, and he was very patient and made good recommendations. I eventually decided upon two things — diamond shell clams (500g) in a white wine/​chili/​garlic sauce, and a tempura soft shell crab «board». I also got a glass of white wine, which was very mediocre and not worth the price.
The food came out quickly. The clams were good and seemed to be of fine quality. The flavor of the sauce was quite tasty. The soft shell crab was only okay — the flavors were good, but the meat was mushy (though the shell was still crunchy).
I left having hoped for more, but happy that it was only $ 40 and perhaps the best service I’ve had in my New Zealand visits (NOT an exaggeration, it was great).

Veggie burger was outstanding.
Creamy Corn relish yum. This place is a must try for vegetarians. Staff was friendly. Location|views lovely. A bit smelly, but hey it’s seafood central.

Lots of great seafood dishes in their menu. I had the tempura soft shell crab and calamari for starters, which were all really yummy, then the king crab for a main. I wish they had in brackets, for the king crab, that said ‘recommended for 2 or more people’ or something to indicate how big the portions were. Which is why I posted the picture of one order of king crab. I felt like the king crab could’ve been shared between 3 – 4 people. But it was really good regardless. We also ordered the chili lime sauce on the side for dipping, which made it amazing. I wish they didn’t only take reservations for 10 or more people, because it was quite busy on a Tuesday night, surprisingly. I also wish they had more sides like, mashed potatoes or rice pilaf or brown rice, or corn bread would be amazing. We had bread and fries for a side. My friend ordered the clams in white wine and that was really good. We should’ve kept the sauce for that, for dipping the bread in it. I wish the waiter asked instead of taking all that goodness away. The restaurant has a nice casual ambiance and good location on the waterfront, and good service. Good experience overall.

A table for six took about 35mins on a Tuesday night at 8. I wasn’t expecting to wait in Wellington, but it was well worth it and the friendly staff called us when our table was ready.
Our table was close to the kitchen, so interest piqued about the elaborate stone oven contraption. Our waitress explained it was «hangi inspired» for the meat dishes on the menu, and while it sounded intriguing we weren’t there for anything without a shell.
The four clam scoops arrived first. We tried every sauce, and the white wine was the favourite. They were absolutely delicious and made for a meal in themselves with chewy sourdough to mop up the sauce. Then two pots full to the brim with Nelson paddle crabs arrived, and the clams were forgotten. Simply done with garlic, the meat was perfect. The fun of crunching through the crab legs would be lost for two dinners– go with a group!